Australia leads on HIV with PrEP

Condoms are still necessary but the new HIV prevention drug will "reduce anxiety" in communities, says an Australian doctor who participated in the medical trials.

Dr David Baker prescribed Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to patients during trials before Wednesday's announcement that the daily drug would be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme on April 1.

The PBS listing will drop the price to $39.50 a month for general patients and $6.40 for concession holders, which would otherwise have cost $2500 a year without the $180 million government subsidy.

PrEP is 99 per cent effective in preventing the transmission of HIV among gay and bisexual men.

"We know even though condoms are effective there are cases when they break or they've forgotten at the time," Dr Baker told AAP on Wednesday.

"This PrEP reduces anxiety, and most people are happy with the reduced anxiety to help protect them against HIV," he said.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Wednesday the PBS listing puts Australia within reach of being one of the first countries to end the transmission of HIV.

Related Articles

He says the change will not only benefit gay and bisexual men, but also help drive down HIV rates in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and migrant communities, which have seen increased transmission rates in recent years.

Dr Baker says the overall reaction has been positive and people have found the daily pill easy to take with no or few side effects.

"A very small group of people who are older or have existing conditions could have reduced kidney function in the longer term," he said.

An additional $1.2 million over five years will be spent on an awareness and prevention campaign.

Dr Baker says more training is also needed for doctors in rural communities where HIV and STI rates have sky-rocketed among indigenous people.

"Yet the main group are men who have sex with men," Dr Baker said.

Others at high risk of the disease that can only be transmitted through certain body fluids include people with HIV partners, transgender, injecting drug users, and heterosexuals to a lesser extent.

The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations says until now access to PrEP has been patchy, prohibitively expensive and mainly accessed through clinical trials.

"This will drive a substantial reduction in transmission and allow us to turbo-charge the Australian HIV response," federation CEO Darryl O'Donnell said in a statement.